The Mad King eBook

He was even humming a gay little tune as he drove
into a tiny hamlet through which the road wound.
No sign of military appeared to fill him with apprehension.
He was very hungry and the odor of cooking fell gratefully
upon his nostrils. He drew up before the single
inn, and presently, washed and brushed, was sitting
before the first meal he had seen for two days.
In the enjoyment of the food he almost forgot the
dangers he had passed through, or that other dangers
might be lying in wait for him at his elbow.

From the landlord he learned that the frontier lay
but three miles to the south of the hamlet. Three
miles! Three miles to Lutha! What if there
was a price upon his head in that kingdom? It
was her home. It had been his mother’s
birthplace. He loved it.

Further, he must enter there and reach the ear of
old Prince von der Tann. Once more he must save
the king who had shown such scant gratitude upon another
occasion.

For Leopold, Barney Custer did not give the snap of
his fingers; but what Leopold, the king, stood for
in the lives and sentiments of the Luthanians—­of
the Von der Tanns—­was very dear to the American
because it was dear to a trim, young girl and to a
rugged, leonine, old man, of both of whom Barney was
inordinately fond. And possibly, too, it was
dear to him because of the royal blood his mother had
bequeathed him.

His meal disposed of to the last morsel, and paid
for, Barney entered the stolen car and resumed his
journey toward Lutha. That he could remain there
he knew to be impossible, but in delivering his news
to Prince Ludwig he might have an opportunity to see
the Princess Emma once again—­it would be
worth risking his life for, of that he was perfectly
satisfied. And then he could go across into Serbia
with the new credentials that he had no doubt Prince
von der Tann would furnish him for the asking to replace
those the Austrians had confiscated.

At the frontier Barney was halted by an Austrian customs
officer; but when the latter recognized the military
car and the Austrian uniform of the driver he waved
him through without comment. Upon the other side
the American expected possible difficulty with the
Luthanian customs officer, but to his surprise he found
the little building deserted, and none to bar his
way. At last he was in Lutha—­by noon
on the following day he should be at Tann.

To reach the Old Forest by the best roads it was necessary
to bear a little to the southeast, passing through
Tafelberg and striking the north and south highway
between that point and Lustadt, to which he could
hold until reaching the east and west road that runs
through both Tann and Blentz on its way across the
kingdom.

The temptation to stop for a few minutes in Tafelberg
for a visit with his old friend Herr Kramer was strong,
but fear that he might be recognized by others, who
would not guard his secret so well as the shopkeeper
of Tafelberg would, decided him to keep on his way.
So he flew through the familiar main street of the
quaint old village at a speed that was little, if
any less, than fifty miles an hour.